Couture clothes last so much longer because so much work goes into them.

Tired of both stuffy high fashion and the poor copies of couture clothes produced by her dressmakers, she decided to design her own.

Couture clothes would be nice, too.

She was no career model but part of a generation of debutante beauties, who were paid only token salaries and showed couture clothes for small, private audiences.

For the photo challenge, the models pose as fugitives of the law in haute couture clothes in a mock crime scene setting alongside other models dressed as law enforcers.

Well, it begins with the hair that we see at the couture fashion shows.

Probably no less practical than the output of most haute couture fashion houses.

Many of her choices were inspired by the extravagant shopfronts of the haute couture fashion houses in the area.

Now, new ready to wear lines replaced individualized formal couture fashion.

More recently her work has been concerned with themes related to motherhood, haute couture fashion, hip-hop aesthetics, and popular tales.

But now that he's at his very own couture house he can let rip.

He may have been unceremoniously ejected from the couture house he founded that bears his name - which last year filed for bankruptcy.

Does a couture house need a big-name designer to be a success?

In 1947, he opened his own couture house and had a lot of success in the following 20 years; it will close in 1968.

Couture houses have defied predictions of their demise for decades.

Billed as an affordable luxe collection, it's a fresh version of the haute couture line, offering exceptional quality but costing 40 per cent less than its swanky parent.

His ready-to-wear shows have had rave reviews; meanwhile, sales of the couture line have been rising - and, crucially, the age of couture customers has been falling.

Apart from his couture line, he has also launched his prt and diffusion lines that have been positively received.

The founder of the brand died in 2008 and had last produced the haute couture line in 2002.

Forget couture lines and colours to suit your complexion, it would be one red shoe, one yellow and a lot of net.

All good things must come to an end and last night's couture show was, after 45 years, definitely his last - and a high.

I was sitting next to her at another couture show this week.

At one time, the idea of a couture show would have been overtly rich and dramatic — that's what people expected.

It's not often you can say that a couture show seems relevant.

In the most recent couture show, for example, a pink tabard-cloak was layered over a paler pink chiffon blouse and hot-pink trousers.